Checkmate
by Riyuji.Raicho
Summary: Uriko tries to hide her feelings for a certain male zoanthrope, but does she contain it for long?


Checkmate  
By: Riyuji  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Bloody Roar characters or the game itself. It is owned by Hudson Soft and some other parties that I am not aware of. I am not making any money out of this (though I wish I was ^_^), I'm only doing this for the fun of it and for the entertainment of others. Hope you enjoy it.  
  
Author's Notes: First Bloody Roar fanfic. I never had time to do one until now.   
  
~*~  
  
Kenji listened intently to the Mathematics lecture in class, not catching the dreamy glances that a familiar female zoanthrope were throwing at him. Uriko had her chin resting on her palms for the past ten minutes of the class, one of which she hated the most. She hoped that Kenji would not catch her staring at him, which would lead to him forging eye contact with her.   
  
'What are you thinking about now, Nonomura?' the voice within her chanted. She set the thought aside for a moment but after hearing it once more she wondered, 'What am I really thinking about?'  
  
Her mind went into a rampage to look for the answer though she already knew what it was. 'Oh yeah,' she thought. "Kenji," she sighed inaudibly. She started imagining encounters with him, just the two of them. 'Do I really consider you as my friend?' she started as she fantasized the scene in her brain. 'Yes, I do. You are my best friend. You have always been, after our encounter in the alley when that weirdo, Busuzima, had still had you under his control. Actually, I think even before that incident. I even think you're a better friend than Aki and Mizutani at times. But are we simply friends? Nothing more?'   
  
She heaved another sigh, idly closing her eyelids and leaning on the desk before her. "Kenji, I think we can be more than friends."  
  
"What was that Riko? I didn't quite hear you well," uttered a masculine voice at the side of the feline zoanthrope's desk.   
  
She recognized the voice almost immediately. It was Kenji's. The slightly deep yet bad-ass of that cute brown-haired ninja. 'Wait a minute,' she thought as she continued to stare silently at the darkness under her eyelids. "Kenji?!" her eyes opened swiftly and she stood up. A bit too quick. One of her feet got caught in the chair's leg causing her to topple over with the seat. She mewed in slight pain after her head made contact with the floor. 'Did I really say that out loud?' she asked herself.  
  
Kenji bent down to his friend's side. "Uriko, are you okay?" he inquired, a tone of concern in his voice. 'Another bad move Uriko,' he thought.  
  
Uriko blushed slightly when she noticed that their faces were merely inches apart. She felt his breath against her cheek. She sniffed his spicy scent, which quivered her insides. She then remembered his question and gave her reply. "I'm okay Kenji," she reassured him.  
  
He slightly backed away from her face and laughed at the flushed face of the young female zoanthrope. "Are you sure? I can help you to the clinic if you want to." He stood up and let out a hand, which Uriko took. The ninja helped her up from her awkward, and not to mention contorted position on the floor.  
  
She blushed even deeper as he helped her to get back to her feet. "Aww, Kenji! You really do care about me, don't you?" Her hand reached out to his cheek and decided to give it a pinch. She chuckled at the face Kenji made in the process.  
  
Kenji's face cringed till she withdrew her hand from his cheek. His hand then raised up to his cheek and gave it a rub. The ninja felt uncomfortable at kempo student's friendly gesture. 'Man, that hurt but what should I expect? This girl is Long's student after all,' he thought. He gave her a grin and said, "Of course I care. You are my best friend after all." He ruffled her hair a bit then he heard it. 'You know that you like her more than a friend.' It was Bakuryu.   
  
Kenji wanted to shout out loud but he contained the thought instead. 'What do you want this time? Stay out of this will you?'  
  
Bakuryu spoke up, 'What are you talking about? I'll leave, but I'm reminding you Ohgami. You like Nonomura more than a friend.' The voice immediately faded. Kenji then remembered that Uriko was saying something initially. "Uhm Riko? What were you saying earlier?"  
  
Uriko swallowed a gulp and tried to change the subject. She reached down and grabbed the chair, restoring it to its original position. She glanced at her watch and said, "Kenji! We mustn't waste anymore time of lunch with meaningless conversation!" She grabbed his arm and coiled both of hers around his. She dragged the flabbergasted ninja outdoors, together with her lunch bag.  
  
Kenji was surprised with what just happened and wondered, 'What was up with that?' He went to a bench and his friend followed. He took a few bites from his sandwich then turned to the kempo student who was nibbling on an apple. "You know Uriko, if you have a problem you could always tell me," the mole zoanthrope uttered.  
  
Uriko was caught off-guard. She stopped eating and stared at the concrete floor. "W-wh-what are you talking about Kenji? Problem? I don't have a problem," she stuttered. She let out a chuckle and scratched the back of her head.  
  
He arched an eyebrow at her. "Oh, really?" he started and bit another part of his sandwich. "It's quite obvious Riko. I seriously think that I can help you." He then slid a hand through his spiky brown hair and placed it above Uriko's. "What is it?"  
  
Uriko flinched as she felt her hand intertwined with his. She suddenly tensed to his touch. 'I know this seems nice but I never thought it would feel this way.'  
  
Kenji felt his friend tense under his touch and let go of her palm. "So Riko, aren't you going to tell me what is it?"  
  
Uriko started panicking. 'Oh my gosh! He can't know what's the real reason! Got to think of something. Fast!' She gulped nervously. "I need to pull up my grades for history. I kinda need this grade for the semester," she blurted out without a second thought, though it was true that she needed to pull up her grades.  
  
Kenji chuckled. He knew that his friend was lying to him but he decided no to hurt her feelings and to play along with her little game. "So it's history eh? You gotta admit though, it is kinda confusing, especially with Kisada-san behind the desk. Man! That guy as a teacher is way too boring to even try to listen to." He rested his foot over his knee and bent down to lean onto it. He was glad to see a smile begin to etch itself onto her features. "You know that you could always ask me for help when it comes to school."  
  
Uriko took another nip at her apple then raised an eyebrow to the boy at her side. "Is that an offer, mole-boy?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess it is." He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks. 'Man,' he averted his eyes from the half-beast zoanthrope beside him. 'She sometimes seems something more than a best friend. I guess I really have fallen in love with her.' He heard an evil yet cold chuckle echo in his head. 'Didn't   
I tell you? You're just so stubborn.' He wanted to tell Bakuryu to lay off however he decided to simply ignore him. "Why don't you come over to my house after school? We could study together," he paused for a moment then added, "You can bring Alice so we can keep Yugo preoccupied." With that he smirked cockily at his friend.  
  
Uriko grinned back at the brown-haired boy. "That is true. They'd both keep out of our hairs if they're together." She gave it a momentary thought and nodded fervently. "Sure. After classes then!" Glancing at her watch she noticed that they only had a few minutes of lunch left. "Kenji! We spent so much time talking that lunchtime is almost over!"  
  
~*~  
  
Kenji opened the door of the Ohgami household and trudged his way to his room. As he was climbing the steps to the second floor, his brother blocked his path. He gave off a nod as a greeting. "Hey Yugo. Do you mind if you get out of the way? I gotta clean up my room."  
  
Yugo suddenly asked, out of curiosity, "What for?"  
  
"It's none of your business." He pushed Yugo to the side and continued to walk, that is until Yugo's extended arm grabbed and pulled him back, which almost caused him to lose his balance and fall to the floor. "What has that for?" He questioned as he rubbed his sore neck.  
  
"What's the matter? Is there something you're not telling me?" inquired the older one.   
  
"Uriko is coming for a while. We're planning to study for history. She's bringing Alice with her." He looked at the hand of the wolf zoanthrope that was still grasping on the collar of his dark blue school uniform. "Can I go now?"  
  
Yugo released his grip on his younger brother and proceeded downstairs. Kenji went to his room, closing the door behind him. "Why is Yugo so weird at times?" He tidied up his room a bit. He then changed into something a little more comfortable. He grabbed a random shirt and a pair of jeans from his cabinet. As soon as he finished, he sat on a chair by the window and stared at the asphalt track below. A while later Alice's car pulled over. He instantly stood up and rushed to get the door. "I'll get it!" he shouted.  
  
When Yugo heard the thumping as Kenji ran down the stairs, he opted to annoy him a bit more. Yugo walked to in front of the door and grinned at the younger zoanthrope before him. "Are you sure you and Uriko are going to study? I have a feeling you'll be doing more than that." He raised his eyebrow, letting out a snicker at the annoyed look on Kenji's face.  
  
"Lay off Yugo!" His hand was reaching out to for the knob when Yugo suddenly held him in a headlock and gave him a noogie. "Geroff!"  
  
The boxer chuckled at the ninja and released him. "You gotta promise me that you'll stay out of trouble, 'kay?"  
  
"Sure, whatever."  
  
He turned the knob to let his friend and her sister in. "Hey Riko, Alice. So Riko, did you bring your books?"  
  
Uriko nodded her head ardently. "Yup! Let's get started!" She marched her way up with the ninja to his room.  
  
When they were out of earshot Yugo and Alice turned to each other. "Yugo?" The wolf zoanthrope walked closer to his girlfriend. "They won't be doing anything sudden, right?"  
  
Yugo placed an arm around the nurse. "Well, we can trust them both, can't we? So," he paused for a moment. "Do you wanna watch a movie?"  
  
~*~  
  
"Where do we start?" Asked the kempo student as she sat on the ninja's bed. She leaned backward and fell flat on the bed. Her braid flailing on the opposite edge.  
  
Kenji got all the books and notes they needed and lay them on the floor. Hey sat down and muttered, "From the very beginning." The way he said it was barely audible.  
  
She shot up from her position. With eyes growing huge she inquired, "Kenji, you're kidding, right?" Her head tilted slightly to the side, trying to make out his answer. All she got was a nod. She couldn't believe what he had just said. 'I can't believe what's happening! Do we really have to study everything?' She stood from the bed and bent down to a sitting position by Kenji's side. "Kenji, can you really teach me all that in one day?"  
  
He shook his head and forged eye contact with her. "I won't be able to do it all in a day but I'm going to help you till you finally get it." He flashed her a gentle smile. He saw her grin back, which gave him a signal to start. He opened his mouth to begin when he heard her mew a tiny "thanks" that made him smile inwardly.  
  
~*~  
  
It took a while for Uriko to get the hang of it but when Kenji tried to make it fun by giving riddles and jokes as questions she understood most of them almost instantly.   
  
Uriko was giggling at the last remark he had made before he asked her, "Riko? Are you hungry? I could go get us something to eat." She nodded before watching him exit the room. 'Wow! This is actually kninda fun. I can't believe Kenji is really doing this for me. I really have to thank him later.'  
  
Kenji went to the kitchen and took a bag of chips from the pantry and some dip from the fridge. 'Riko was making a lot of progress. I didn't expect that we could get so far in one day.'  
  
When he reached his room he saw Uriko staring at the sky. He wanted to kid around with her so he sneaked up on her from behind.  
  
Uriko sighed and stared at the stars that were beginning to appear on the dark blue, velvet sky. Being too preoccupied with her thoughts, she didn't hear the tranquil ninja approaching her from behind.  
  
He placed both his hands on her shoulders and let out a, "Boo!"  
  
Uriko lost her balance on the chair when she screamed and fell to the floor again. "Ow! Kenji!" She rubbed her head and turned to her sniggering companion. "Will you please stop doing that?"  
  
Kenji let out one more snigger and nodded to her. "That's the second time today Riko!" He saw her frown at him and ceased his fit of laughter. They started eating the chips he had brought up. It was quiet. Neither the ninja nor the kempo student dared to talk.  
  
He didn't like the silence so he tried to strike up a conversation between the two of them. He caught a glance at the chessboard he kept underneath his bed. "Hey Riko. How about a game of chess?"  
  
"But Kenji, you're just going to win. You always do." The girl pouted jokingly at him.  
  
"Come on! I'll go easy on you." He punched her lightly on the shoulder and heard "okay" as her response.   
  
The game went on for a while but Kenji wasn't really paying attention to it. He was too busy eyeing Uriko. He stared at her for most of the gaming time. 'She's so beautiful I could kiss her, right here.' He watched her move as she chewed lightly on her bottom lip.  
  
Uriko noticed that she made a wrong move and regretted it immediately. She watched as the ninja checked her king. One more move and he would win. Not knowing that wherever she moved he could still check the king, she still moved anyway.  
  
Kenji saw the opening and led his bishop to the king. "Hey Riko," he called her attention. She looked up at him and noticed him moving closer to her. Their lips met momentarily and when he released her he smirked. "Checkmate."  
  
Uriko didn't care if she lost anymore. 'After a kiss like that who would,' she thought. She smiled jokingly at Kenji. "I told you that you'll win," she said, grinning at him.  
  
Kenji returned the smile to Uriko. "You know, I think we both won," Kenji muttered softly but was quickly shut up by Uriko's lips, closing over his once more. 


End file.
